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FIFES AND DRUMS 



The VIGILANTES Books 



FIFES AND DRUMS. A Collection of Poems of 
America at War. 12mo. H2 pp. $1.00. 

THE VIGILANTES 

A NON-PARTISAN ORGANIZATION OF AUTHORS, 
ARTISTS AND OTHERS 

PURPOSES 

To arouse the country to a realization of the impor- 
tance of the problems confronting the American people. 

To awaken and cultivate in the youth of the country 
a sense of public service and an intelligent interest in 
citizenship and national problems. 

To work vigorously for preparedness; mental, moral 
and physical. 

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 

Porter Emerson Browne Monroe Douglas Robinson 
Ellis Parker Butler Julian Street 

Irvin S. Cobb Augustus Thomas 

Thomas C. Desmond Charles Hanson Towne 
Hermann Hagedorn Robert J. Wildhack 

Charles J. Rosebault, 

Managing Editor. 

For further information apply to 

THE VIGILANTES 

505 Fifth Avenue New York City 



The VIGILANTES Books 

FIFES AND DRUMS 

A COLLECTION OF POEMS 
OF AMERICA AT WAR 




NEW YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



\,\ O & Co 



COPYRIGHT, 1917, 
BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



JUN 30 1917 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OP AMERICA 






'GI.A470122 



FOREWORD 

These poems, written under the immediate 
of great events by those who have banded 
^s together under the name of The Vigi- 
lantes, furnish a striking record of the emotional 
reactions of the American people during the fort- 
night preceding and the six weeks following the 
declaration of war. They are presented to the 
public in the belief that men and women in every 
corner of the Union will find reflected in them 
some of the love and aspiration they themselves 
are experiencing for their re-discovered country. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

America Unafraid . . . Charles Hanson Towne . 13 

The Ultimate Argument . Arthur Guiterman ... 16 

The Song Marion Couthouy Smith . 18 

Peace with a Sword . . Abbie Far well Brown . . 22 

The Pacifist's Lament . Don Marquis .... 24 

At Any Price .... Lee Wilson Dodd ... 25 

The Answer Marion Couthouy Smith . 29 

In Time of Danger . . Clinton Scollard ... 31 

To America Lee Wilson Dodd ... 33 

Ode to Tonsilitis . . . Wallace Irwin .... 35 

April 2nd Theodosia Garrison . . 37 

The Flag Goes Up . . . Amelia Josephine Burr . 38 

Fall In! Amelia Josephine Burr . 40 

Black Flag! Edith M. Thomas ... 42 

A Song of Democracy . . Lee Wilson Dodd ... 44 

Our Aim ...... Louis How 47 

The Binding of the Beast George Sterling ... 49 

The Flag George E. Woodberry . . 53 

To All Americans . . . Amelia Josephine Burr . 5$ 

vii 



Vlll 



CONTENTS 



Wae Song of America 
Processional . 
Omniscient Mr. Fall . 
The Stars and Stripes 
The German-American 
Oub Bargain 
Blow, O Ye Bugles 
America in Arms 
To the Allies .. . 
Of Kings .... 



The Kaiser 



Grantland Rice 
Cale Young Rice . 
Lee Wilson Dodd . 
Theodosia Garrison 
Katherine Lee Bates 
Amelia Josephine Burr 
Clinton Scollard 
Percy MacKaye 
Laura E. Richards 
Clinton Scollard 
Florence Earle Coates 



The Return of the Exiles George E. Woodberry 
Messengers . . . . . Florence Mary Bennett 
Shoulder to Shoulder . Clinton Scollard 



The Roundabout Commit- 
tee and the Circumlocu- 
tion Board 

America .... 

America, To Arms! . 

A Lesson in Manners 

Come to the Colors 

Our Flag in France 

The American Flag 



Wallace Irwin . 
Lee Wilson Dodd 



PAGE 

57 
59 
61 
64 
66 
68 
70 
71 
74 
76 
77 
79 
80 
82 

84 
88 



Blanche ShoemakerWagstaff 91 
Theodosia Garrison 
Laura E. Richards 
Marion Couihouy Smith 
Theodosia Garrison 



The Young Blood Speaks Mary Farley Sanborn . 



93 
94 
96 
98 
100 



- 


CONTENTS 


IX 


Marching with Papa 


PAGE 




Percy MacKaye . 


102 






105 






107 




. M. E. Buhler . . . . 


110 


To Our Women . 


. Amelia Josephine Burr 


111 


To the Mothers 


. Marion Couthouy Smith 


113 


The Girls They Left 


Be- 




hind Them 


. Theodosia Garrison 


115 


A French Captain . 


. Amelia Josephine Burr . 


117 


The Recruit 


. Reginald Wright Kauffmar 


i 119 


Prayer During Battle 


. Hermann Hagedorn 


121 


They Also Serve . 


. Faith Baldwin . 


122 




Amelia Josephine Burr 


124 


Concerning Planting . 


. John Curtis Underwood . 


126 


Spades Are Trumps! 


. John Kemble . 


130 


The War of Bread 


. . Edith M. Thomas . . 


132 


Columbia's Shop 


. Theodosia Garrison 


. 134 


The Childless . 


. Amelia Josephine Burr 


. 136 


The Test . . . 




. 138 


A Song of Confidence 


. Theodosia Garrison 


. 139 


"Ride, Vigilantes!" 


: . Edith M. Thomas . . 


. 141 



Surely the time for making songs has come 
Now that the Spring is in the air again. 
Trees blossom though men bleed; and after rain 

The robins hop; and soon the bees will hum. 

Long was the winter, long our lips were dumb. 

Long under snow our loyal dreams have lain. 
Surely the time for making songs has come 

Now that the Spring is in the air again. 

The Spring! — with bugles and a rumbling drum! 
Oh, builders of high music out of pain, 
Now is the hour with singing to make vain 

The boast of kings in Pandemonium! 

Surely the time for making songs has come! 

E. E. 



FIFES AND DRUMS 



AMERICA UNAFRAID 



America will wake 

To the stern task before her. She will break 

The bonds of Sloth and dull Indifference, 

And, with the soul of Lincoln in her eyes, 

Dare to be great and wise; 

Dare to be valiant with the valor still 

That echoes from the crest of Bunker Hill; 

The valor that gave Grant and Lee their fame 

After the battle-flame; 

The valor that has kept our country whole 

While the clean years unroll; 

13 



14 FlFES AND DRUMS 

The valor that has giv'n us all body, and heart, 
and soul! 

II 

America will be 

As one in her old love of Liberty. 

She will remember naught of party and creed 

In her great hour of need; 

But one in spirit, one in high accord, 

Her people will await the final word 

That bids them strike for Justice. Her keen 

sword 
Will never be unsheathed, save in the name of 

Christ, our Lord ! 

■ 

in 

There is a fear 

Running through our broad country, far and 

near; 
A rumor that foul traitors at our gate 
Whisper, and plan, and wait; 



FIFES AND DRUMS 15 

A rumor that beneath us crawls the hostile worm 

of hate. . . . 
It may be so! But I believe that now 
Each man can disavow 
Old enmities, and., loyal to the end, 
Count it his privilege to be his country's friend; 
Count it his right to suffer for the land 
That hailed him, and stretched forth a welcoming 

hand 
When he, heart-broken, from an alien shore, 
Came as a stranger to our open door. 

IV 

America, beware! 

Lest, knowing the red burden you must bear, 

You falter now ! We pray for Peace — white Peace ; 

Yet if soft days must cease, 

We shall go forth, fearless, and as one, 

Until our task for Liberty is done. 

Charles Hanson Toivne. 



THE ULTIMATE ARGUMENT 

Before the high court of King Lion the Strong 
The wily Hyena appeared with a throng 
Of Jackals as witnesses, charging the Ass 
With wronging him foully by eating the grass. 

"This rogue," the Hyena indignantly cried, 
"Without any warrant express or implied, 
Devours the herbage so luscious and sweet 
And cruelly leaves me with nothing to eat. 
I pray the Court, therefore, to grant me relief, 
Including permission to dine on the thief." 

The Ass pleaded humbly with down-hanging ears, 

(Addressing a Jury composed of his peers) : 

"Dear friends, that I graze in the meadow is true, 

But not without warrant. My course I pursue 

16 



FIFES AND DRUMS 17 

By right of a Document sealed with a Seal — 
King Solomon's firman which none may repeal." 

"Ha!" snarled the Hyena; "but where is your 

proof?" 
"My warrant is writ/' said the Ass, "on my hoof." 
"Indeed!" sneered the Plaintiff; "then show it, I 

beg." 
"Look well !" brayed the Ass, as he drew up a leg. 
Close peered the Hyena. The Ass gave a snort 
And kicked the Conspirator clean out of Court. 

L'Envoi 

While Patience is praiseworthy, even in Gath, 

And Sweetness may possibly turn away Wrath, 

The mildest can have but one answer to give 

Oppressors who question their title to live. 

Arthur Guiterman. 



THE SONG 

Along the misty beaches, where the great wind- 
voices cry, 

Where the sea's reverberant thunder sends its chal- 
lenge to the sky, 

And its deeper echoes lure us, from the countries 
where they die — 

A song is sounding on ! 

I can hear it, clear and urgent, over all the break- 
ers' rage; 

It is pleading for the memory of a noble heri- 
tage; 

'Twas a woman's voice that sang it, in a past 

heroic age — 

Its call is sounding on. 
18 



FIFES AND DRUMS 19 

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of 
the Lord; 

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes 
of wrath are stored. 

He has loosed the fateful lightning of His terri- 
ble swift sword; 

His truth is marching on. 

It is calling with the sea- winds far across the 

troubled wave, 
Where Belgium in her beauty lies all one trampled 

grave, 
And still her proud defenders lift the paean of the 

brave — 

Her soul is marching on ! 

It cries along the bloody fields, from Russia back 

to France, 
Where the great united nations hold the savage 

foe's advance; 



20 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Where the stars above the trenches meet the sol- 
dier's dying glance — 

Its call is sounding on. 

I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows 

of steel; 
"As ye deal with My contemners, so with you My 

grace shall deal; 
Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent 

with his heel, 

Since God is marching on." 

My country — oh, my country! Clear-sighted then 
and strong, 

A shield for the defenceless and a flame against 
the wrong, 

True to the ringing echoes of that mighty march- 
ing song 

That still is sounding on — 



FIFES AND DRUMS 21 

My country — oh, my country ! The old brave call 

has come; 
Too long your steps were lagging, too long your 

soul was dumb; 
Tune now your wakening pulses to the throbbing 

of the drum, 

While God is marching on. 

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never 
call retreat; 

He is sifting out the hearts of men before His 
judgment seat; 

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubi- 
lant, my feet! 

Our God is marching on. 

Marion Couthouy Smith. 



PEACE WITH A SWORD 

Peace ! How we love her and the good she brings 

On broad, benignant wings ! 

And we have clung to her — how close and long, 

While she has made us strong! 

Now we must guard her lest her power cease, 

And in the harried world be no more peace. 

Even with a sword, 

Help us, O Lord! 

For us no patient peace, the weary goal 

Of a war-sickened soul; 

No peace that battens on misfortune's pain, 

Swollen with selfish gain, 

Bending slack knees before a calf of gold, 

With nerveless fingers impotent to hold 

The freeman's sword — 

Not this, O Lord ! 
22 



FIFES AND DRUMS 23 

Not peace bought for us by the martyred dead 

Of countries reeking red; 

No peace flung to us from a tyrant's hand, 

Sop to a servile land. 

Our Peace the State's strong arm holds high and 

free, 
The "placid Peace she seeks in liberty/' 
Yea, "with a sword." 
Help us, O Lord! 

Bring out the banners that defied a king; 
Then tattered colors bring 
Thai; made a nation one from sea to sea, 
In godly liberty. 

Unsheathe the patriot sword in time of need, 
America ! Forth, forth your armies lead ! 
"Peace, with a sword ! 

Help us, O Lord!" 

Abbie Farwell Brown. 



THE PACIFIST'S LAMENT 

The world is so full of a number of thugs, 

I'm sure we should all be as humble as bugs. 

Don Marquis. 



AT ANY PRICE 

De Puyster Jones at twenty-three 
Is not a pleasant sight to see; 
Although his duds cost many dollars, 
From silken socks to five-ply collars, 
Though shaved and bathed and deftly scented- 
One feels he should have been prevented. 
His lips hang loose, his chest caves in, 
His face is minus brow or chin; 
And when one hears the creature chatter 
Somehow it simply doesn't matter. 
Yet young De Puyster Jones has money, 
And when his money talks — it's funny 
(Or sad) to note that many listen; 
His brain is slime, and slime will glisten. 

In fact, the moron, more's the pity, 

25 



26 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Is sometimes spoken of as witty; 

And though obscenely idiotic, 

His ancient anecdotes erotic 

Are often greeted with guffaws; 

And his views meet with wild applause. 

Now what — I ask in thunderous tones — 
What are the views of D. P. Jones? 

"Patriotism's just an ism! 
A fellah ought to be 
Above the lingo 
Of the Jingo; 
Flags don't appeal to me." 

"If a chap's rational, he's international; 
He knows there's nothing in 

The stuff that's local; 

I'm not a yokel 
To cheer when the bands begin." 



FIFES AND DRUMS 27 

"And politicians who yap of missions, 
Ideals, and all that junk — 
Just let 'em gab, brag, 
And hold the grab-bag; 
But don't fall for their bunk!" 

"You take this crisis! A glance suffices 
To wise you what it means ; 
Munition makers 
And journalist fakers 
Stuffing millions in their jeans!" 

'We're safe and happy, so why get scrappy ? 
Say, what's the sense in war? 

For God's sake chuck it ! 

The whole show's muck ! It 
'S not what I'm living for!" 

'Not this little Willy ! I'm not that silly- 
No drums and guns for mine! 



28 FIFES AND DRUMS 

What's the odds if they rat us ? 
They can't get at us. 
Georgie's fleet is doing fine !" 

Such — I repeat in thunderous tones — 

Such are the views of D. P. Jones. 

Lee Wilson Dodd. 



THE ANSWER 

There is one answer to all dreams of ease — 

Belgium ! 
One answer to the Teuton's cunning pleas — 

Belgium ! 
One test and touchstone for all hearts that feel; 
One word that is a stroke of steel on steel, 
A stroke whose clangor sets a long note ringing 
That falls upon our ears like distant singing. 

One word for you who say the strife must cease- 
Belgium ! 

Justice to her must hold the key of peace — 
Belgium ! 

And you who clamor that our cry should be 

Not love of country, but Humanity. 

29 



°Q FIFES AND DRUMS 

Have you not heard it, as you pass unheeding? 
Humanity ! In her the world lies bleeding ! 

Not she alone the dark decree must know — 

Belgium ! 
The first in that great sisterhood of woe, 

Belgium ! 

She speaks, my Country, with your own lost dead; 

She brings one answer to your shrinking dread; 

Draw now your sword, and set the clear stroke 

ringing 

That falls upon our hearts like mighty singing! 

Belgium! 

Marion Couthouy Smith. 






IN TIME OF DANGER 

Blind to danger we have been, 
Walking on our wonted ways 
Through the drifting of the days, 
In and out, and out and in, 

To our patriot duty stranger, 
Wandering as in a maze, 
Blind to danger ! 

Deaf to danger, and our need, 
We have drunken to the lees 
Of the drugged wine of ease ; 

To our honor given no heed, 

Paltered, played the money-changer; 

Cast aside old memories, 

Deaf to danger ! 
31 



32 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Blind and deaf to danger? Nay! — 
Fling the call from shore to shore ! 
Wake ! the slothful hour is o'er ! 
Wake! be gone with base delay, 

To our trust no longer stranger ! 
Freemen, rouse, and be no more 
Blind to danger — 
Deaf to danger ! 



Clinton 8 collar d. 



TO AMERICA 

Yes, Mother, it is true; 

Bad daughters and worse sons we've been to 

you — 
Taking all, giving naught — 
Till we have brought 
You down to this. . . . 

You need 

A starker breed 

To cherish you and guard, 

Keep watch and ward, 

Or strike if strike they must! 

Mother, our shameful heads are in the dust — 

Abject— 

Before you. . . . 

33 



34< FIFES AND DRUMS 

Too mild, too patient! — yet once more forgive 

Our faithless greed, young folly, old neglect! 

For though we perish from you, you shall live — 

Mother ! — through humbled daughters who respect, 

Through chastened sons who serve you and adore 

you. 

Lee Wilson Dodd. 



ODE TO TONSILITIS 

Since Senatorial Rules decree once more — 

Even while Prussia threatens us with slaying — 

That one wild donkey still may hold the floor 
And block an entire nation with his braying; 

Yea, since the chin is mightier than the sword, 
The lung and larynx deadlier than reason 

And Robert spurns the Flag beneath the Ford 
In one continuous honk of windy treason; 

Ah! then come forth, thou dread but welcome one, 
Nymph of the swollen throat, fair Tonsilitis ! 

Go gulping to the Sage of Madison, 

Woo him with wreaths of asthma and bronchitis ! 

Snuggle beside his Senatorial seat, 

Lure him with kisses sneezy, damp and reckless 

35 



36 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Until the cold which now afflicts his feet 

Climbs to the place where Mabel wore the neck- 
lace. 

Then must that rare trombone grow fogged and 
cease, 

That wealth of words lie fallow in his wallet ; 
There'll be no more Atrocities of Peace 

Committed then by Robert M. La Follette. 

Then will the eagle o'er the rostrum shriek 
While patriots clasp hands in satisfaction, 
"The gentleman from Wisconsin cannot speak — 
Rejoice, ye nations! Now we'll get some ac- 
tion!" 

Wallace Irwm. 



APRIL 2nd. 

We have been patient — and they named us weak; 
We have been silent — and they judged us meek. 
Now, in the much-abused, high name of God 
We speak. 

Oh, not with faltering or uncertain tone— 
With chosen words we make our meaning known, 
That like a great wind from the West shall shake 
The double throne. 

Our colors flame upon the topmost mast, — 

We lift the glove so arrogantly cast, 

And in the much-abused, high name of God 

We speak at last. 

Theodosia Garrison, 



37 



THE FLAG GOES UP 

Whether we gave him doubts or praises, 

That is a thing of yesterday. 
We rally to the flag he raises. 

We go the inevitable way, 
But not with pageantry or shouting — 
We're done alike with boast and doubting. 
We take the trail that duty blazes 

Be the issue what it may. 

Brave are the words that he has spoken, 
The words that we have made our own. 

Our blood and sweat shall be the token 
We fight for righteousness alone. 

O God, who knowest all the making 

Of noble vows — and all their breaking — 
38 



FIFES AND DRUMS 39 

Grant that our word be never broken, 
Our banner never overthrown. 

Give us to keep without misprision 
The truth our souls have understood, 

Clean above hatred and derision, 

Strong' through our evil days and good. 

To love life's worth, not life's preserving, 

More than success to honor serving, 

Faithful forever to our vision 

Of liberty and brotherhood. 

Amelia Josephine Burr. 



FALL IN! 

We thought that reason had mastered men, 

That peace of the world was lord, 
That never the roll of the drum again 

Should quicken the thirsty sword— 
But our bubble broke with a sudden blow, 

And we heard like the trumpet's din 
That levelled the walls of Jericho 

The old stern cry— "Fall in!" 

We were numb, amazed, we were sick and dazed 

With a horror past belief. 
Silent we stood while Belgium blazed 

In her martyr's glory of grief. 

Then it came so near that we needs must hear, 

For the cry of our murdered kin 

40 



FIFES AND DRUMS 41 

Drove in our heart like a searching spear 
The call of the hour— "Fall in!" 

Not in the flush of a barren thrill 

Do we come to our deed at last. 
We have weighed our will, we must do our will, 

For the doubting-time is past. 
We have faced our souls in the sleepless night, 

And what shall we fear but sin? 
Not for love of the fight, but for love of the right, 

In the name of our God — "Fall in!" 

Amelia Josephine Burr. 



BLACK FLAG! 

Run up your Black Flag, 

Skull and crossbones display! 

Why should you palter — why should you lag?- 
For never was freebooting crew, 

From Heligoland to Cathay — 
And the Coast of Barbary, too, 
So deserved the foul ensign as you ! 

Yes, run up the Black Flag, 

Too long have your colors been hid! 

Make good your insolent brag, 

Who have staked off the waters at will, 

And the honored sea-law have defied, 

Going forth to plunder and kill! 

You have staked off the waters at will — 

42 



FIFES AND DRUMS 43 

What ! You yet think to forbid ? 
Sea-way for other Flags, too — - 
Way for the Red-White-and-Blue ! 

But it's down with your Black Flag — 

Down, in the end, it must be, 
In the depths where you lurk let it drag — 
Down to the charnelled abyss . . . 

You hearken the World's decree? — 

Pirates were hunted ere this, 

And you shall be swept from the sea! 

Edith M. Thomas. 



A SONG OF DEMOCRACY 

It isn't just because some ships were lost, 
And children drowned, and women, and strong 
men. 

That's bad enough, God knows ! 

But the Prussians were our foes 
Long before their cruel wolf-pack left its den. 

It isn't just because their hunting pack 
Tore at Belgium's throat to reach the throat of 
France. 

No, by Heaven ! It's because 

They are traitors to all laws 
Made by God to curb the Devil's arrogance. 

They are traitors to humanity, no less ! 

They acknowledge nothing nobler than their will 

44 



FIFES AND DRUMS 45 

To conquer and subject 
All peoples who respect 
The Holy Vow man struggles to fulfil. 

For man has dreamed a dream and sealed a 

Vow, 
Yea, man has sealed a Vow before the Lord 

Of Righteousness and Peace: 

He has sworn that war shall cease 
And the reign of Reason triumph o'er the Sword! 

He has sealed a Holy Vow that privilege 
Shall perish from an Earth where all are free ; 

That his children shall not fight, 

As he must, the Huns of Night, 
But be brothers in the Light of Liberty. 

God save us from all traitors to that Dream; 
God shield us from all traitors to that Vow ! 



46 FIFES AND DRUMS 

God give us strength to smite 
All traitors to that Light — 

Lord God of Man United, aid us now ! 

Lee Wilson Dodd. 



OUR AIM 

We have been patient: we have been ashamed, 

Through dismal days and weeks and months and 

years 

Insulting hands have cuffed our burning 

ears. . . . 

Our patience crumbled, and our anger flamed. 

The spirit of the Union, never tamed, 

Jumps to the cannon 'mid a nation's cheers, 

And marches to take part among its peers. 

We aim as straight as we have always 

aimed. 

England and Russia, Montenegro, France, 

Rumania, Serbia, Belgium, Italy, 

Japan, — we come to join in your advance! 

47 




48 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Your foe is ours, our friend becomes your friend. 

And to you all, and to our sons, say we: 

We hate this hateful war, and it shall end ! 

Louis How 



THE BINDING OF THE BEAST 

He plotted in the den of his lordship over men ; 
He wrought his grim array and he hungered for 

the Day. 
Then the loosing- word was spoken; then the seal 

of Hell was broken; 
Then its Princes were assembled for the feast; 
But against the Vandal night rose the star of 

Freedom's light, 
And a world was called together for the binding 

of the Beast. 

They have seen it for their star; they have come 

from near and far; 

From the forges of the North go the men and 

young men forth, 

49 



50 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Having found the holier duty, found the true, the 

final beauty, 
As their brothers of the South and of the East. 
In the forests of the West they have given of 

their best, 
With strong hands and patient for the binding of 

the Beast. 

For his treason unto man in the War that he be- 
gan, 

For the rapine and the flame, for the hissing of 
his name, 

Have the hosts gone up against him and with 
swords of judgment fenced him, 

With his coward clutch on woman and on priest. 

For the children he has maimed, for the maidens 
he has shamed, 

The nations gird their harness for the binding of 
the Beast. 



FIFES AND DRUMS 51 

Now frothing in his rage, a scourge to youth and 

age, 
Caked with blood he stands at bay, with his feet 

upon his prey. 
Ringed with surf of guns resounding, raw and 

fetid from the hounding, 
Smites he still in baffled fury and the roar of hate 

releast; 
But the huntsmen of the ranks, with their steel 

at breast and flanks, 
Give no truce nor sign of respite at the binding 

of the Beast. 

He is cunning, he is strong, and the war shall yet 

be long, 
Where the seven thunders wake and the walls of 

heaven shake. 
He is cruel, blind and ruthless; he is boastful, sly 

and truthless; 



5% FIFES AND DRUMS 

By his will the Powers of Darkness are increast; 
But the shackle and the chain shall avenge the 

hurt and slain. 
Who have broken bread with heroes at the binding 

of the Beast. 



For his pact with Death and Hell, let us bind the 

monster well. 
That the world go free indeed from his arrogance 

and greed! 
By the pact he dared to sever make we treaty with 

him never, 
Till the murder-venom in his blood has ceast ! 
By his trust in force and war, end we those for- 

evermore, 
As the nations sit in council for the binding of 

the Beast! 

George Sterling. 



THE FLAG 

Kiss the loud winds, O darling of all hearts, 

And shoot o'er land and sea thy beams world- 
wide! 

How many thousands in thy light have died. 
Radiant and sweet! now from our banners darts 
A greater glory ! in our bosoms starts 

A deeper joy: so swells the long-pent tide 

Of full devotion to thy sacred side, 
And from impatient millions doubt departs. 



Advance thy colors in the captain-files 

That vanward lead the many-languaged host 

Like mighty waves that lift an angry sea, — 

And break the German! miles on headlong miles 

53 



54 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Drive him from churchless land and shipless 

coast 

Till law again for right be sanctuary ! 

George E. Woodberry. 



TO ALL AMERICANS 

(Tune: Maryland, My Maryland) 
Our answer to the great appeal, 

Americans, Americans, 
Shall prove if we are clay or steel, 

Americans, Americans. 
Strike manfully for liberty, 
Stretch helping hands across the sea, 
And keep your own hearts clean and free, 

Americans, Americans ! 

Clean of the pettiness of hate, 

Americans, Americans, 
Free to the love of all things great, 

Americans, Americans. 

Clean of untruth and fear and greed, 
55 



56 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Free faithfully to serve the need 
Of God, wherever He may lead, 
Americans, Americans ! 



Amelia Josephine Burr. 



WAR SONG OF AMERICA 

We are on our way back Home — 

Home where the high flag flies ; 
We are on our way from the rut 

With the flag lust in our eyes; 
So those of you in the van, 

Hark to our warning song — 
"Give us the open road 

Till we land where we belong." 

Soft we had grown and fat — 
Watching the Shadow creep; 

Soft with the dull content 

Of those who are half asleep; 

But the Eagle's place is the peak, 

And now, by her lands and seas, 
57 



58 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Flung to the world-wide winds 
Old Glory goes to the breeze. 

We are on our way back Home — 
By the trail we have come before; 

By the trail that leads from the depths 
Through the swirl of the Winning Score ; 

So those of you in the way 

Hark to the chant we've spun — 

"Give us the open road 

Till we find our place in the sun." 

Grantland Rice. 



PROCESSIONAL 

Not for a flaunted flag, O God, 

Not for affronted power, 
Not for a scurrile hope of gain, 

Not for the pride of an hour, 
Not for vengeance, hot in the heart, 

Now do we swing to war; 
Not for a weak mistrust lest peace 

Is a shame strong men abhor. 
Not for glory — for oh, to kill 

Should be a sacred wrath; 
Not for these ! But to war on war 

And sweep it from earth's path! 

Patient has been our creed, till now, 

Patient, too, our hope, 
59 



60 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Patient for long our lothful deed, 

For the just in doubt must grope. 
But with a foe at last arrayed 

Against the whole world's right, 
You, O soul of the universe, 

Your very self must fight. 
You yourself; so but one prayer 

Need we to lift — but one, 
That by our battle shall all war 

Be utterly undone. 



Gale Young Bice. 



OMNISCIENT MR. FALL 

OR 

THE WHOLE TRUTH ABOUT THE WAR 

Mr. Fall, who reads The Call, 

Knows it all. 
He can tell you in a minute 

Why we're in it. 
Moneyed men who make big guns 

Bribed the Huns; 
And when Belgium was invaded, 

It was they did 
Stir up Belgians to resist, 

Just to twist 
The Lion's tail— till "War !" 

He must roar. 

Then the millionaires of France 

61 



62 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Saw their chance 
To make millions making shells ! 

— Fall excells 
In explaining all away 

From this fray 
Save the money coalitions 

Of munitions- 
Makers make — ghouls, full fed on 

Armageddon ! 
So, of course, he now declares, 

Our affairs 
Have been run for us by schemers 

Who sent steamers 
Out, and U-boats out as well 

To raise Hell! 
Wall Street knew if we came in 

'Twould begin 
To grow richer that much faster 

From disaster. 



FIFES AND DRUMS 63 

It's so simple. — Can't you see 

It must be 
Just as Mr. Fall asserts ! 

Yellow dirt's 
(Both as cause^ and as effect) 

Why we're wrecked. 
How about it? Do you doubt it? 

Can you doubt it — 

When Fallj who reads The Call, 

Knows it all? 

Lee Wilson Dodd. 



THE STARS AND STRIPES 






We who in the old days — the easy days of pleasur- 
ing— 

Loitered in the distant lands — we know the thrill 
that came 
When in far, foreign places, above the stranger 
faces, 

The sight of it, the might of it, would wake us 
like a flame. 

Our own flag, the one flag, it stirred our blood 
to claim. 

We who in these new days—these days of all con- 
fusion — 
Look upon it with the eyes of one long blind 

who sees. 

64 



FIFES AND DRUMS 65 

We know at last its beauty — its magnitude of 
duty — 
Dear God! if thus it seems to us, what will it 

mean to these 
Who stay for it, who pray for it, our kindred 
over seas? 

These who face the red days — the white nights of 
fury, 
Where death like some mad reaper hacks down 
the living grain — 
They shall see our flag arise like a glory in the 
skies — 
The stars of it, the bars of it, that prove it once 

again 
The new flag, the true flag, that does not come 



in vain! 



Theodosia Garrison. 



THE GERMAN-AMERICAN 

Honor to him whose very blood remembers 
The old, enchanted dream-song of the Rhine, 
Although his house of life is fair with shine 

Of fires new-kindled on the buried embers ; 

Whose heart is wistful for the flowers he tended 
Beside his mother, for the carven gnome 
And climbing bear and cuckoo-clock of home, 

For the whispering forest path two lovers wended; 

Who none the less, still strange in speech and man- 
ner, 

With our young Freedom keeps his plighted 

faith, 
Sides with his children's hope against the wraith 
Of his own childhood, hails the Starry Banner 

66 



FIFES AND DRUMS 67 

As emblem of his country now, to-morrow; 

A patriot by duty, not by birth. 

The costliest loyalty has purest worth. 

Honor to him who draws the sword in sorrow! 

Katherine Lee Bates. 



OUR BARGAIN 

Is all our world upon a counter laid ? 

That is their taunt who say they know us well. 
Then, like true merchants, let us to our trade; 

What wares has God to sell? 



A world at liberty, a path made clear 

For steadfast justice and enduring peace, 

Nations released forever from the fear 
Of evil days like these— 

A sound investment ! but . . . the price is high. 

Long-hoarded wealth in ruin, flame and steel, 

Death lurking in the sea and in the sky — 

What say you? Shall we deal? 

68 



FIFES AND DRUMS 69 

Shall we know terror, shall our strong ones fall 
That others' children, fearless in the sun, 

May see our visions and accomplish all 
That we must leave undone? 

We take thy bargain, Master of the Mart. 

Though we may flinch, we cannot turn away. 

Send thy resistless fire upon our heart 

And make us strong to pay. 

Amelia Josephine Burr. 



BLOW, O YE BUGLES 

Blow, O ye bugles, bugles of the morn ! 

Blow, O ye bugles of the sunset, blow ! 
Sound your clear notes, your ringing notes of 
scorn, 

Against the embattled legions of the foe ! 

Tell them in clarion accents that we stand 
For freedom, and the birthright of the free; 

No bloody tyranny upon sea or land, 
But the inalienable truths of Liberty ! 

Acclaim your triumph paean over Might, 

Your call for justice, and the overthrow 

Of all the hordes that fight against the Right! — 

Blow, O ye bugles, valiant bugles, blow! 

Clinton S collar d, 

7Q 



AMERICA IN ARMS 

We have not willed this war, 

Nor heaped for man this monstrous pyre, 
But we have sought on hell's wide shore 

To quench the awful fire. 

This war was willed to be 

By one who sprang on a world asleep, 

And now his talons out of the sea 
Have drawn us in to the deep: 

In to the deep and the dark 

Where his blood is drunk with the splendor 

of ships, 

As he lies in lair with a steel-gray shark — 

The mad foam on his lips. 
71 



72 FIFES AND DRUMS 

No more, then, now no more 

'Tis ours to watch by the burning lake, 
But ours, thank God, to wage this war, 

Thank God — for freedom's sake, 

Till freedom shall be strong 

Through hell her heavenly work to do; 
For force is neither right nor wrong 

But the use we put it to. 

So this is the pledge we plight: 

That we can fight, who do not hate, 

And we for freedom's love will fight 
In the venomed teeth of fate. 

Gird, then, our hearts to blaze 

Once more through battle's black alarms, 
God of our fathers, and upraise 

America in arms! 



FIFES AND DRUMS 73 

So her free soul may live, 

Then ours — to win Thy grail or grave — 

Are an hundred million lives to give, 

But only one to save. 

Percy MacKaye. 



TO THE ALLIES 

Hands across the sea, brothers! 

Hands across the sea! 
Here's a flag to fly with yours, 

The emblem of the free. 
Holy hands of freemen gave it, 
Heart and life we pledge to save it, 
At your side we lift and wave it, 

Now for Liberty! 

Hands across the sea, brothers ! 

Hands across the sea ! 
Here's a sword to draw with yours, 

'Gainst monstrous tyranny. 

Valiant hearts have beat beneath it, 

Deathless laurels still enwreathe it. 
74 



FIFES AND DRUMS 75 

Sadly, sternly, we unsheathe it, 
Now for Liberty. 

Hands around the world, brothers ! 

Hands around the world ! 
Fling the married colors out, 

Never to be furled; 

Till the power of Light prevailing, 

Vict'ry's heights in triumph scaling, 

Sees the power of Darkness, failing, 

Down in ruin hurled. 

Laura E. Richards. 



OF KINGS 

Ye kings, upon your gilded thrones, 
Hear ye not how the death-wind moans ? 
Can ye not see that naught atones 

For what your hands have done? 
Hark ! how a stricken people's groans 

Mount up against the sun! 

The innocent, they starve and bleed; 

And do ye list, and do ye heed, 

Wrapt in your dreams of power and greed, 

The hastening end of all? 

Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns, read 

The writing on the wall! 

Clinton Scollard. 



76 



THE KAISER 

He stood alone, in sovereignty sublime, 

Uniquely great, — the Kaiser ! They that feared, 
Yet honored him, who to the world appeared 

Lofty in courage, wise, above his time, 
The Monarch of the hour! — 

Using his strength destructive things to bind, 

Serving the Fatherland — and, so, mankind, 
Safe-guarding Peace with Power. 



He stood alone? How lone today he stands, 
The eyes of all fixed wondering on him! 
His throne ensanguined, his bright aegis dim, 

The murderous sword clutched in his lawless 

hands ! 

77 



78 FIFES AND DRUMS 

What spectacle more sad 

Than Might by its own folly wounded so? 

Are the Gods jealous now, as long ago, 

That thus they make ambitious mortals mad? 

Florence Earle Coates. 



THE RETURN OF THE EXILES 

The gates of the Siberian waste stand wide; 

Great joy has thrilled the mighty wilderness; 

The message of the Lord has come to bless 
The souls in bondage: broken is the pride 
Of the invincible tyrant who doth ride 

On human hearts, and thrones him on distress ! 

Fallen he is ! his victims numberless 
Fill the long roads by steppe and mountain-side. 

So when our Lord descended into hell 

And broke the fetters of the spirits in prison, 
A glorious company to heaven made way. 

What triumph more divine doth history tell 

Than Truth from her captivity arisen, 

And Faith rejoicing in her holy ray! 

George E. Woodberry. 

79 



MESSENGERS 

(Tune: The Russian Hymn) 
Lord God Omnipotent, forth Thou art sending 

Us, as Thy messengers, blessed with Thy Word, 
Souls rich endowed, and inspired with hope un- 
. ending. 
Shout we, America hath girt on her sword ! 

Sword of Democracy, tempered and glowing, 
Sword of the Union — Free States in accord — 

Sword of high righteousness, wrong overthrowing ! 
Shout we, America hath girt on her sword ! 

Clear, brave, the echoes dart! Our message is 

sounding : 

Safe be the Rule of the People, O Lord! 

80 



FIFES AND DRUMS 81 

Safe through the world, all inj ustice confounding ! 

Shout we, America hath girt on her sword! 

Florence Mary Bennett. 



SHOULDER TO SHOULDER 

Shoulder to shoulder! Each man in his 

place ! 
Shoulder to shoulder, and "right about! face!" 
We've a duty to do ere we grow a day older, 
And the way we can do it is — shoulder to shoul- 
der! 

Shoulder to shoulder ! Each man in the line ! 
Shoulder to shoulder ! The Flag for a sign ! 
Yes, let us not weaken, but let us grow bolder, 
And rally and sally with — "shoulder to shoul- 
der!" 

Shoulder to shoulder! Each man in his might! 

Shoulder to shoulder ! We fight for the right ! 

82 



PIPES AND DRUMS 83 

The land of our love — may our courage enfold 

her! 

May we work — and not shirk — for her, shoulder 

to shoulder! 

Clinton 8 collar d. 



THE ROUNDABOUT COMMITTEE AND 
THE CIRCUMLOCUTION BOARD 

A Nation went to war against a rather ruthless 
foe; 

It hadn't any army, so it wondered who would 
go 

To do the deeds of valor which the crisis did re- 
quire, 

To help the French to take the trench and do it 
under fire. 



So Congress got together and the Senate did the 

same 
To raise a million soldiers who would put the foe 

to shame, 

84 



FIFES AND DRUMS 85 

And they quickly passed the matter up, with one 
complete accord. 

To the Roundabout Committee and the Circum- 
locution Board. 

Now the Roundabout Committee sat and talked 

for weeks and weeks 
On Methods of Preparedness among the Ancient 

Greeks 
While the Circumlocution Board it scratched its 

thoughtful double chin, 
And lingered late in wise debate on "Where Shall 

We Begin?" 

A Patriot rushed in and cried, "The Foe is at our 

gate !" 
But the Circumlocution Board replied, "Just tell 

him, please, to wait. 
We're listening to an Army Plan devised by Sen- 
ator Drool 




86 FIFES AND DRUMS 

To raise nine million soldiers through his Corre- 
spondence School." 

Then the Patriot, who was hasty, raged and 

stamped upon his hat. 
"You're really doing nothing and you're taking 

years at that." 
Whereat the wise Committee bobbed its head and 

answered, "True. 
Take note of that, stenographer. That's what 

we're here to do." 

A Military Training Bill the President did advise 

They set upon with pencils and reviewed with hos- 
tile eyes. 

"It is much too plain and simple. Let's revise it 
so and thus; 

We can jumble any issue, if you'll leave the job 
to us." 



FIFES AND DRUMS 87 

So at last the land grew weary and implored with 

shrieks and sobs, 
"Let our welfare be conducted by some men who 

know their jobs. 
Are our railroads run by poets? Or do cobblers 

harvest hay? 
Then in military matters why should windmills 

rule the day?" 

But the question was so pointed and its moral so 
direct 

That it could not thread the labyrinthine hallways, 
we suspect, 

Leading to the Inner Sanctum of the Crooked 
Wooden Sword, 

Of the Roundabout Committee and the Circumlo- 
cution Board. 

Wallace Irwin. 



AMERICA 
(two portraits) 



"For all her busyness and prate^ 

Too easy-going to be great 5 

She wastes her soul and winks at Fate : 

Poor foolish virgin who'll not trim 

Her lampj even when its light grows dim; 

Capricious^ ruled by chance and whim. 

Her soft good-nature cannot brook 
The anguish of a steady look 
Upon Time's hourly posted Book: 

Time's Book, wherein is written plain 
The loss that follows slothful gain^ 

The doom of all who shrink from pain. 

88 



FIFES AND DRUMS 89 

Lax, optimistic, indolent, 

On momentary joys intent, 

She counts as saved all she has spent. 

And when God's ruthless Questions come 
Before her with Truth's Speculum — - 
She slouches, simpers and chews gum!" 

II 

No portrait that ! You libel with your pen 
This anxious Mother of unhasty men. 

Her heart is quick and true; her courage sure, 
She has the strength to suffer and endure. 

God's ruthless Questions will not find her dumb; 
Her Answers will be noble. Let them come. 

"Are you for ease or honor®" "I am for 
The rights of living men, in peace or war" 



90 FIFES AND DRUMS 

"Will you make good that boast through days of 

gloom?" 

ef — Yes. Though my breast become my children's 

tomb." 

Lee Wilson Dodd. 



AMERICA, TO ARMS! 

She stands, a guardian of the endless sea, 

Her garb is golden, and her lips are flame, 
She is the portal of Eternity 

And Beauty is the realm from whence she came ! 
She is the voice of many bleeding lands — 

America, she calls ! To Arms ! Arise ! 

For like a shimmering sabre in the skies 

In scarlet glow she stands 

A guardian of the earth and sea — 

Liberty! 

Blcmche Shoemaker Wagstaff. 



91 



A LESSON IN MANNERS 

We have neglected certain obligations, 

Albeit in a purely social way, 
One should return a neighbor's salutations 

And make a party call a certain day. 
America has failed in manners. Is it 

A trifle that we lack in etiquette? 
Surely 'tis time that we returned the visit 
Of Lafayette. 



Our social calendar is much neglected, 

And "busy" is not always an excuse; 

Some adequate return might be expected, 

And courtesy may rust for lack of use. 

92 



FIFES AND DRUMS Q3 

Suppose, in manner, both polite and hearty, 

Before this suitable occasion goes, 
We manage to return that little party 

Of Rochambeau's. 

Theodosia Garrison. 



COME TO THE COLORS 

(Air: Russian National Hymn) 
Sons of America, come to the colors; 

Gather in arms round the Red, White and Blue ! 
Far over land and sea a bugle note is ringing; 

Sons of America, it sounds for you ! 

Long have ye stood apart, the conflict grim be- 
holding, 
Safe in your distance and calm in your might; 
Now, in the hour of need, your banner proud un- 
folding, 
Sons of America, uphold the right ! 

Kingdoms may pass away in tumult resounding, 

Thrones and dominions may crumble and fall; 

94 



FIFES AND DRUMS 95 

Now, while Humanity the great Advance is 

sounding, 

Sons of America, obey the call ! 

Laura E. Richards. 



OUR FLAG IN FRANCE 

Up with the flag in France, lads, up with the flag 

in France! 
As the dawn-rays rising oversea, so be its bright 

advance ; 
The dawn-rays flaming on the sea, the morning 

round the world — 
Long and dark was the night to us, while the 

Stars and Stripes were furled! 



Out with the sword in France, lads, out with the 

sword in France! 
As the sudden gleam of a twilight star, so be its 

flashing glance; 

A star that brings a mighty hope to a people worn 

and pressed; 

96 



FIFES AND DRUMS 97 

Glad were they for the kindly word, but the help- 
ing hand is best. 

Follow the guns in France, lads, follow the guns in 

France ! 
Take with those on the foremost line the brave 

man's fighting chance; 
There's a people here behind you, whose dreaming 

hours are past, 
Who will send you forth with a swelling heart, 

and back you to the last. 

Fight for the world's defence, lads, as your fathers 

fought before, 
For truth and right against ruthless might, for 

freedom's cause once more! 
Though the way be long and the hazard strong, 

for glory or mischance, 

Up with the flag in France, lads, up with the flag 

in France! 

Marion Couthouy Smith. 



THE AMERICAN FLAG 

They wait the flag — These men who hold their 

own 
Against that beast (blood-mad and madly blind) 
Who seeks to poison all of human-kind, 
And snarl above a ravaged world alone. 
They wait the flag — that sign that shall be shown 
To prove that with them — one in might and mind — 
Their mates from over-sea, long held behind 
Strive with them where the foremost lines are 

thrown. 



Dear God, to see that day when France shall turn, 

Like some brave mariner who fought the gale 

The live-long night, to see against the dawn 

98 



FIFES AND DRUMS 99 

Like one great glory in the sunrise, burn 

The spread, white wonder of a nearing sail 

That signals "We stand by — Sail on, sail on!'* 

Theodosia Garrison. 



THE YOUNG BLOOD SPEAKS 

Bon jour, Marcel! Your hand. 

At last our stars 

Have come to join your triple bars; 

We're here to fight with France — 

By God, give us the chance! — 

We heard the cries 

Of helpless children; saw the frightened eyes 

Of women shrinking from the maddened crew 

That swept their land; we felt 

The quiver of the tortured sod., and smelt 

The smoke of burning villages ; we knew 

You needed us, that's what we're coming for — 

To stop this war. 

Dis done, Emile! We couldn't stand their cant: 

"God and the Fatherland." And trampling 

100 



FIFES AND DRUMS 101 

Your tender soil for that! We're here to fling 
Their words back in their teeth. For us, we want 
Nothing that is our neighbor's; we have come 
To lead our stricken brothers and their women 

home, 
To smooth the scarred and broken earth, and plant 
The fields again. But — if we must — 
We'll deal first with those war-lords, break 
Their knees and bring them to the dust. 
For France's sake 
We'll fight until we drop. 
We're here to make them stop. 



Allons! Leon, Gaspard ! 

We'll help you win this war. 

Mary Farley Sanborn. 



MARCHING WITH PAPA JOFFRE 



A SONG TO FIFES AND DRUMS 



Marching! — What are they marching, there, for? 

Rin-rin! — Ran! — Pata, pata, plan! 
Papa Joffre he's coming from the war: 

Vive la — Vive la France! 
Blue jacket and red breeches and mustachios 

gleaming white, 
With a Tommy on his left hand and a Johnny on 

his right, 
He has come to give America his Godspeed for 

the fight: 



Vive VAmerique! Vive la France! 

Vive la — Vive la France! 
102 



FIFES AND DRUMS 103 

Fighting! — What are they fighting, there, for? 

Eho! — Eho! — Pata, pata, plan! 
To make men free men, now and evermore: 

Vive la — Vive la France! 
The Kaiser and his kaiserlings they guessed that 

they would go 
And ring the Paris Christmas bells, a-laying 

churches low; 
But Papa Joffre beside the Marne stood up and 

said: No, no! 

A bas les Boches! Vive la France! 
Vive la — Vive la France! 

Cheering! — What are they cheering, there, for? 

Hurrah! — Hurrah! — Hip, hip, hip, Hurrah! 
Red, white, blue flags — flaming for the war: 

Vive la — Vive la France! 
Jack Poilu he's a true lad, as Papa Joffre has 
tried; 



104 FIFES AND DRUMS 

John Bull he is another, and he marches Jack 

beside ; 
And Yankee Doodle joins with them — three 
brothers, God for guide: 
Vive VAmerique! VAngleterre! la France! 
Vive la — Vive la France! 

Praying! — What are they praying, there, for? 

Dieu! Seigneur! A ton Esprit la gloire! 
The Peace of Justice reign forever more ! 

Vive VE sprit de la France! 
We are marching in alliance that our faith may be 

restored ; 
We are fighting, we are cheering, for a nobler 

world-accord ; 
We are praying, through the tempest, unto Lib- 
erty, our Lord: 
Vive V Alliance! Vive la France! 

Vive la victoire de la France! 

Percy MacKaye, 



IT IS BETTER 

The khaki lads with drum and fife 

March down Fifth Avenue. 
Their eyes are eager for the strife 

That moulds the world anew . . . 

And you — and what of you? 

It is better to travel a bloody track 
And come home dead or maimed — 

It is better to go and never come back, 
Than to stay and die ashamed. 

The lads in khaki sweep on past, 
All straight and straight aligned. 

When the rattle of drums is gone at last, 

What is there stays behind? — 

Not a thing remains behind. 
105 



106 PIPES AND DRUMS 

'Twas our country's very self marched by. 

And many a man may fall — 

But it's better to live the hour you die 

Than never to live at all. 

Louis How. 



ENLISTED 

Have you heard the shiver of bodies hurled 

Chest on crashing chest, 
When thigh-bones snap like pistol shots 

And men meet breast to breast? 
Have you seen the feet of a maddened horse 

Red-wet with the wine of war 
And wondered in crushing a comrade's face 

What you had killed him for ? 

Ever the sweep of the wave of men 

On the reef of jagged death, 
And frozen faces like cockle-shells 

Where the breaker billoweth, 

The out-flung arms of a down-lipped boy 

With his throat shot through— 

107 



108 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Perhaps his shoulder brushed your Own 
Or he slept last night by you. 

My fathers followed Washington 

Into the forests dim, 
The blood of Warren at Bunker Hill 

In my veins runs from him, 
When Perry crossed from ship to ship 

They bent their arms to row, 
They faced the Mexicans' livid hail 

In the shattered Alamo. 



The Susquehanna knew their tents, 

They perished at Bull Run, 
Shenandoah saw our dead 

Staring at the sun; 
We marched with Sherman to the sea, 

Starved at Andersonville, 
And one of us died by the barbed-wire fence 

Under San Juan Hill. 



FIFES AND DRUMS 109 

You cannot change the written scroll 

Nor alter the charted plan, 
Ever must moaning women quail 

And man make war on man; 
Out of strength must sweetness come — 

Out of sacrifice 
We melt the metal and forge the key 

To enter Paradise. 

I thank my fathers for what they paid 

On the altar of the years, 
I thank the women who gave me birth 

In agony and tears; 
I could not wish that life should ask 

One payment less from me, 

And the bugle-call of the arming hosts 

Sets their old passion free. 

Willard Wattles. 



CURRENCY 

"Let us pay with our bodies for oiir soul's de- 
sire." — Theodore Roosevelt. 



O, high of soul, flesh doth not overwhelm, 
But is the means wherewith all things to buy ! 

It is the coin current of the realm 
Wherein we live and die. 

Upon our far strange journey to that Home 

From which we are astray, 
The Providence that destined we should roam 

Gave us wherewith to pay. 

We shall arrive if nobly we aspire, 

And spending flesh to buy the spirit free, 

Pay with our bodies for our souls' desire 

For perfect liberty. 

M. E. Buhler. 

110 



TO OUR WOMEN 

(Adapted from the French of Paul Deroulede) 
Woman, if the man to whom your heart you give 
Gives you all his heart, to you alone is true — 
If, American, a stranger he can live 
To America, his only country You — 
If without despising himself and you alike 
He hears his duty call and lifts no hand to strike — 
Woman, your clinging hands have bent his soul 

awry. 
You knew not how to love him if he knows not how 
to die. 

Mother, if your boy grows man in years alone, 

Loving self so well, he has no heart to hear 

The voice of higher hopes, if he has never known 

111 



f par 



112 FIFES AND DRUMS 

The steadfast will that faces and overpowers fear. 

If in the perilous hour of Freedom's mortal fight 

He fails to dare his all for God and for the right — 

Mother, your love has crippled the soul it strove 

to shield. 

You knew not how to give the life he knows not 

how to yield. 

Amelia Josephine Burr. 



TO THE MOTHERS 

Mothers of men, do you not know 

What you gave to the world in your hour of woe? 

Born of courage, and doomed to stress, 

A man for the tasks of men — no less ! 

Mothers of women, can you not feel 

What all the signs of your life reveal? 

You have brought forth love, with its sword and 

fire, 
And love's high crown is the lost desire. 

Mothers of men, have you not known 

That the soul of the child is not your own ? 

If God has sealed him for palm and cross, 

To hold him close were your bitter loss. 

113 



114 FIFES AND DRUMS 

Mothers, mothers, will you not see 
All that your gift to the world may be? 
These who must fight a wrong abhorred 
Are Michael's angels, who bear the sword. 

Mothers of men, then loose your hold ! 

Love grants more than your arms enfold; 

Under the Cross you stand apart, 

With Mary's sword in your dauntless heart. 

Marion Couthouy Smith, 



THE GIRLS THEY LEFT BEHIND THEM 

We are the girls that they left behind them 

And this is the pride that we wear today. 
We had no will to hinder or bind them, 

To bid them hesitate, wait or stay. 
We bade God-speed to them on their way, 

Not with the sadness of hearts resigned 
But glad of the call they must needs obey. 

We are the girls that they left behind. 



We are the girls that they left behind them, 

Not as of old but to weep and pray, 

But with ready hands and with wit to find 

them 

Service fit for the part we play. 

115 



116 FIFES AND DRUMS 

And this is the pride that we wear today 

(We who are one with them heart and mind) 
That they loved us and left us and marched away 



We are the girls that they left behind. 

Theodosia Garrison, 






A FRENCH CAPTAIN 

Three wounds ... he was so weak . . . just to 

let go 
The grip of will on torn and weary flesh — 
For then would come a silence . . . and long 

sleep . . . 
And when he waked — if waking was for him — 
Then he could fight again . . . but now — O God! 
Only to slip to earth a little while 
And lose the shattering tumult of the guns ! 
But something in his heart would not let go, 
Something that thudded in his ringing ears 
"For France! For France! For France!" He 

struggled on 

Bleeding, unconquered — and unconquerable, 

For when the bullet struck him in the breast 

117 



118 



FIFES AND DRUMS 



He shouted to his men as he went down, 
"Never fall back! It is my last command!" 

That was one soldier's death. You who can sneer 

(God pardon you!) at him and at his like^ 

Walking so proudly in your nobler ways — 

Are you as faithful to humanity 

As he to France? Do the stern tests of peace 

Awake the God in you, as war in him? 

If it were so — there were an end of war. 

Amelia Josephine Burr. 



THE RECRUIT 

Give me to die when life is high : 

The sudden thrust, the quick release, 

Full in the front, in harness, not 
A slow decay in timorous peace. 

There is not any way but this ! 

I would not shirk the joy of strife, 
Nor lose one flash of perfect death 

For sluggard years of coward life. 

My breath, which is God's gift to me, 
Exulting waits His high behest; 

My heart, which moves at His command, 
At His command will gladly rest. 
119 



120 FIFES AND DRUMS 

For who would tarry when He calls, 

To haggle at the heavy toll, 

And render to ungrudging God 

The insult of a niggard soul? 

Reginald Wright Kauffman. 



PRAYER DURING BATTLE 

Lord, in this hour of tumult, 
Lord, in this night of fears, 

Keep open, oh, keep open 
My eyes, my ears. 

Not blindly, not in hatred, 
Lord, let me do my part. 

Keep open, oh, keep open 
My mind, my heart ! 



Hermann Hagedorn. 



121 



THEY ALSO SERVE— 

Beyond the soaring thrill that lifts the heart 

To martial music and to marching feet, 
Beyond the thin call of the fife — apart 

From brave emotion, and the sudden heat 
Of young enthusiasm, and the cheers 

Of crowds which weep and rally at a word — 
Beyond the Fire and the Wind and Tears 

The still small voice of Sacrifice is heard ! 



The cripple in his chair who does his bit — 
The bent old woman in her garden-plot — 

By such small flames the holy Lamp is lit — 

And who can say the Country needs them 

not? 

122 



FIFES AND DRUMS 123 

Not for us all the right to rise and go 

To unknown Terror over haunted seas — 

Yet all shall reap as We-At-Home shall sow — 

And thus we serve — unto the least of these! 

Faith Baldwin. 



HIS JOB 

"I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier — 

The nations ought to arbitrate, I say — 
But I couldn't face my son if I made him leave 
undone 

His bit to help America to-day. 
Though I couldn't bear to think of him in battle, 

And it's terrible to trust him to the sea, 
I'll give him with a will where he doesn't have to 
kill 

Is there nothing for my boy and me?" 

There's a call for him that's louder every minute; 

There's a hungry world that he can help to feed. 

There's a fight without a gun that is waiting for 

your son 

Where the enemy's the vermin and the weed. 

124 



FIFES AND DRUMS 125 

If you didn't raise your boy to be a soldier^ 

If you didn't raise your boy to be a shirk, 

Here's a job for head and hand — send him out 

to till the land; 

What's the matter with a farmer's work? 

Amelia Josephine Burr. 



CONCERNING PLANTING 

Friend Kipling wrote some lines long since that 

ended "Pay, Pay, Pay !" 
And he helped to clean up Africa. That war was 

children's play 
With this that has to sift the sea, that's playing 

hide and seek 
And prisoners' base with submarines that scuttle 

life. Last week 
I heard a pure-food specialist stand up and start 

his chant 
With "The way to beat Berlin is just to 'Plant, 

Plant, Plant!'" 

They say all nature's short of crops this year and 

next may be. 

126 



FIFES AND DRUMS 127 

The world is shy of ships beside. It spills grain 

in the sea. 
The answer's wider acreage. The farmer'll do his 

share. 
If you want to beat those butchers of babies in the 

air 
You'll tell your wife's relations and the uncles of 

your aunt 
And your seventh cousin twice removed to "Plant, 

Plant, Plant!" 

Now I have a gift for gardens and I've dug my 

trenches there. 
I've planted seeds instead of shells and made the 

neighbors stare. 
I've ranged my ranks of carrots, and beets, and 

beans, and peas, 
With pinks and roses round the sides as pretty as 

you please. 



128 FIFES AND DRUMS 

This year the flowers will have to go. My wife 

says that we shan't 
Steal one more Belgian baby's life. So "Plant, 

Plant, Plant!" 

This year the game is gardens. This year the fad 

is food. 
Gad, if they plow their golf links up I'd cheer 

the multitude 
That have the money habit. If all would take 

their turn 
The butlers and the ladies' maids to weed and hoe 

might learn. 
Say, that's some Cubist picture. My kids declare 

they can't 
Slice up their tennis court. But Ma says "Plant, 

Plant, Plant!" 

Ganal sides in New York will bloom. Beside our 
railroad tracks 



FIFES AND DRUMS ' 129 

We're going to turn the Germans out. Around the 

rusty shacks 
Where we used to do our dumping, and on every 

vacant lot 
Fve a picture of a planting worth tons of steel 

and shot. 
Though pacifists may preach and doubt and fools 

may rave and rant, 

We are going to knock the Kaiser out. So "Plant, 

Plant, Plant!" 

John Curtis Underwood. 



SPADES ARE TRUMPS ! 

"Clubs are trumps!" the soldier shouts, 

"By might alone we win today; 

For over all the world of men 

The strength of arms holds eager sway." 

"Nay, SPADES are trumps!" speaks Mother 

Earth, 
"The might you boast would soon be gone 
Without the harvest that they yield 
To lend you strength and feed your brawn" 

"Diamonds are trumps !" the merchant cries, 

"They build your navy, ship by ship; 

Place guns within your soldiers' hands, 

And give your fighters swords to grip." 

130 



FIFES AND DRUMS 131 

"Nay, SPADES are trumps!" speaks Mother 

Earth, 
My workers share the richest spoil: 
Where would your boats and armies be 
Without the fruitage of the soil?" 

"Hearts are trumps !" the women sigh, 
"We give our husbands and our sons, 
To sail your ships across the seas, 
To bear your flags and man your guns." 

"Nay, SPADES are trumps!" speaks Mother 

Earth, 

"The guns may roar on land and sea. 

And swords may flash and hearts may break — 

But SPADES shall have the victory!" 

John Kemble. 



THE WAR OF BREAD 

There shall be no unwarranted manipulation of 
the nation's food supply by those who handle it 
on the way to the consumer." — President Wilson. 



Of all the wars that waste this world, 
Where the life of man has bled, 

This is the war I most abhor — 
The theft of the people's bread ! 



They who hold back what the kind Earth gave 

In the billowing fields of grain, 

Are the cowardliest foe — for their secret blow 

Strikes for their own base gain. 
132 



FIFES AND DRUMS 133 

Arm of the law, reach forth in your might, 

And the hidden stores unbind, 

And defeat their power who, at this hour, 

Wage dastardly war on their kind ! 

Edith M. Thomas. 



COLUMBIA'S SHOP 
Columbia has opened shop, 
(Come buy, good folk, come buy!) 
None may despise her merchandise,- 
Her price is far from high, 
Your parcels shall be neatly tied 
With red and white and blue, 
And Liberty (most charming, she) 
Shall hand them out to you. 

Columbia has opened shop 

As any lady may, 

No better ware is anywhere, 

(Come buy, good folk, and pay!) 

For whosoever buys of her 

Shall have her thanks the while 

134 



FIFES AND DRUMS 135 

And Liberty shall take the fee 
And give the change and smile. 

Columbia has opened shop, 

(The foreign trade's astir) 

Pray step inside — the door stands wide — 

And buy a bond from her. 

Theodosia Garrison. 



THE CHILDLESS 

They give the savings of their life — the dreams, 

The hopes of youth, the care of yearning years, 

The tender fostering, the love austere 

That served by chastening, the prayers unheard 

Except by God — all, all the priceless hoard 

Of love that goes to make a son, a man, 

They give all this — with sorrow, yet with joy. 

It may be they shall have their gift again 

In time to come; it may be they shall have 

For their one comfort that they gave their all 

To help God's Kingdom come. . . . 

And we — (O God, 

Thou knowest why!) who have no sons to give, 

We lend our gold that shall be paid again 

136 



FIFES AND DRUMS 137 

With interest. So small a thing it seems ! 

And yet — these are the savings of our life, 

And there is nothing petty in Thy sight. 

Accept, O God, our offering — 'tis to Thee. 

Amelia Josephine Burr. 



THE TEST 

Money you have, though children none, 

Who say that you would give your son 

To help dear Liberty to live, 

If you had a son to give. 

Remember, words are not the price 

At which the wares of God are sold. 

Your own flesh would you sacrifice 

Who will not even lend your gold ? 

Amelia Josephine Burr. 



138 



A SONG OF CONFIDENCE 

We have not compelled them, urged them, nor ca- 
joled them — 
Of their own need they came to us, their own 
want and will. 
We but opened wide the door, bade our walls en- 
fold them, 
Gave them of our plenitude, as we give them 

still. 
Surely we may never fear lest these should wish 
us ill. 

We have broken bread with them, lit the flame that 

warmed them, 

Bade them share our children's place at hearth 

and bed and board. 
139 






140 FIFES AND DRUMS 

We have bound the ancient wounds — unhealed 

wounds that harmed them — 
Shared with them our freedom from fear and 

over-lord. 
Surely these shall aid us when our hand is on 

the sword. 

Not with misplaced confidence, not in foolish 

blindness, 

Do we trust these guests today who have known 

our best, — 

These who wrought with us in peace, walked with 

us in kindness, 

These shall never fail us when men's souls are 

at the test, 

These shall guard the honor of the House that 

gave them rest. 

Theodosia Garrison. 



"RIDE, VIGILANTES!" 

Ride through the land, Vigilantes, ride! 

From this bound of the East where the inrolling 

tide 
With more than the red of the sunrise is dyed, 
As crimson the foam is borne to our strand! 
Ride! 

Draw not the rein, and make not your stand, 

Till ye come to the slumbering heart of the land: 

Tell them who sleep — so loth to awake, 

All unprepared for the storm that must break — 

Tell them, Humanity's all is at stake! 

Tell them, " 'Tis Freedom that falls in the 

breach I" 

141 



142 FIFES AND DRUMS 

If they murmur, adream, "Our peace, we be- 
seech — 

The peoples at war — they speak not our speech!" 

Ye will say, "If ye sleep, then sleep — to your 
shame ! 

Freedom's no alien, but one and the same; 

Wake ye, and arm ye, in her great name !" 



Ride, Vigilantes, lifting your light, 
Ride through the day, and ride through the night, 
Searching out Men of Valor and Might! — 
Ride! 



Edith M, Thomas. 



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